5 Minute Power

↓ INTRO
↓ POWER PROFILE
↓ WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF 5 MINUTE POWER IN CYCLING?
↓ BUILDING UP YOUR FTP POWER OUTPUT
↓ HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR 5 MINUTE POWER
↓ INTERVAL TRAINING
↓ CONCLUSION

Power Training For Cycling

A good 5 minute power for cycling is what will separate you from the rest of the pack. Plenty of riders have a good FTP and the endurance to make it to the end of a race with the lead group, but on many race courses (especially in amateur racing), the riders who have that extra nitro-boost at the end are the ones who take the glory.

Maybe you have a race with many short climbs that you want to train for, or you often find yourself out of breath in the last several minutes of a race and are unable to go with the leaders. Whatever the reason, training your 5 minute power is a worthwhile endeavor for all cyclists as part of your race prep.

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POWER PROFILE

“How do I know if I need to train my five minute power?”

For starters, if you feel this area of your cycling is lacking, you’ll probably already know it. Many riders who have trained with a “Sweet Spot” approach have a diesel engine to stick with the leaders, but lack the ability to kick in the last few minutes of the race. They simply have not trained their VO2max enough.

Related Post: VO2max for cycling

However, we can identify in WKO5 if someone’s VO2max (and subsequently 5 minute power) is lacking by looking at their power profile.

The red line is called the Power Duration Curve (PD Curve) in WKO5. This red line is a regression curve that predicts where an athlete’s all-time best power should be based on their rider type.

In yellow are the all-time best power outputs for the rider from the last 365 days. If the yellow falls below the red line, this indicates a possible weakness because the rider’s power output is lower than what the PD Curve predicts.

Firstly, we can see a big dip around the 1-2 minute mark, which indicates this rider’s glycolytic system is lagging behind and they may benefit from anaerobic training.

Secondly, and of importance to this article, if you look closely, you can see that this rider’s power outputs from 2-8 minutes are also below the line.

Efforts from 2-8 minutes would be highly dependent on an athlete’s VO2max. Thus, we can surmise from the PD Curve that this rider also needs to work on their VO2max power by doing interval training for cycling.

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WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF 5 MINUTE POWER IN CYCLING?

Many amateur races are highly suited to a rider with a good 5 minute power. A lot of us probably aren’t racing up alpine passes but on shorter, more explosive courses where 5 minute power becomes important. Whether it’s a punchy road race or even a criterium, a good 5 minute power is something you want to have.

Put simply, riders with a good 5 minute power are much more likely to win races. You’re also more likely to win races by using Lactigo topical performance gel.

BUILDING UP YOUR FTP POWER OUTPUT

Training your 5 minute power can also improve your FTP. By training 5 minute power, you are improving your VO2max and “raising the ceiling” on your aerobic potential. FTP can be pushed up further when VO2max is improved.

For example, let’s say your FTP occurs at 85% of VO2max. If you improve your VO2max and also see a concomitant rise in FTP (through appropriate training), your FTP might be at 85% of your new VO2max. You’ve just raised your FTP power.

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HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR 5 MINUTE POWER

There are a few tenets to VO2max training for cycling that will help improve your 5 minute power. We have lots of resources available on our blog on how to improve your 5 minute power with VO2max training, but we’ll go over the basics here.

Endurance cycling: That’s right, go slow to go fast. As paradoxical as it sounds, endurance riding in zone 2 should be a staple in every cyclist’s training program. If you’re looking for low-hanging fruit to improve your cycling power, start by increasing your volume of training within zone 2.

Zone 2 training allows you to build huge amounts of aerobic fitness without too much fatigue. While intervals are very effective for building fitness, they also come at a high cost and should be used with caution.

If you’re looking at increasing your volume, you must progress gradually. Start with adding an hour or two to your program. After a couple of months, when you’ve adjusted to your new training load, you can further increase your volume of endurance riding as you can handle it. Ultimately, if you have the time, regular 10-15 hour weeks on the bike will yield great fitness gains.

VO2max Training: VO2max training will train your body’s upper limit of oxygen consumption. The more oxygen you can consume, the higher your capacity to produce energy aerobically. This will translate to improved 5 minute power. For those who have not spent much time doing VO2max training, it can be a total game changer. A popular approach with VO2max training is to incorporate it into a block periodization training plan.

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If you want to improve your cycling power with VO2max training, our VO2max training token includes:

VO2max training guidebook – Why, When and How to do VO2max training.
VO2max workout library (including 10 of our top VO2max workouts)
Sample VO2max training template

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Strength Training: What was once considered taboo amongst cyclists is now seen as one of the best ways to bump up your fitness. Strength training will improve muscular strength, neuromuscular fitness and fatigue resistance, all of which will contribute to an improved 5 minute power (and many, many other things!).

However, it’s very easy for a cyclist to get strength training wrong. A strength training program for cycling must address the specific demands of cycling and be compatible with a cyclists training program. A qualified coach can help you with programming strength training for cycling. View our training programs here.

INTERVAL TRAINING

Many cyclists in search of gains tend to go a bit overboard with high intensity training. The “No Pain No Gain” mantra isn’t always true. Yes, high intensity intervals are very important to improving your 5 minute power, but more isn’t always better.

Always shoot for the minimal effective dose of interval training to help improve your top-end power. In general, two days per week of high intensity is optimal.

If you're looking to improve your 5 minute power, we also recommend avoiding sweet spot training or excessive amounts of tempo training. This won’t give you any added benefit over endurance riding, but will only leave you with undue fatigue which will detract from your high intensity workouts.

VO2max training for cycling is hard, and in order to improve your 5 minute power, you need to come into these workouts well rested and mentally prepared to crush. Ensure that you are carbed up and feeling good before going into a VO2max workout. If you feel like your body isn’t prepared to handle a VO2max workout, you are probably better off moving the workout to another day so you can get the most out of it.

Related Post: Complete Guide to Cycling Nutrition: Click Here

CONCLUSION

Every cyclist should dedicate time to training their 5 minute power. If you feel as though this is a weakness for you, it’s worth examining your training tendencies.

If you spend a lot of time training with sweet spot or tempo, consider trading these workouts with zone 2 endurance training and incorporating VO2max interval workouts instead. This approach will allow you to really push the limits and increase your aerobic capacity. This is called Polarized Training and we have a great guide for you to learn more here.

Cycling training is complex and has a lot of moving pieces. If you have questions about your cycling training, we would love to hear from you!

Want to take your training to the next level? Our online cycling coaches each have over a decade of racing and training experience. View our training programs for more information on how EVOQ.BIKE can help reach your full potential.

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